Utah Senator Alan Christensen: cocks fight naturally

Six bills generating debate, disagreement in the Utah Legislature this year

By Katie Ardmore, Deseret News

Published: Tuesday, March 5 2013 8:15 a.m. MST

SB53 would make cockfighting a felony, but one lawmaker said this bill shouldn’t be passed while abortion is legal.

“In a state where we can still allow people to kill their babies, we want to make it a felony to let chickens fight for the purpose of which they were raised,” said Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden.

He said cockfighting is not wonderful, but the birds “naturally want to do this thing in their lives and we’re going to send their owners to prison for this, yet we allow people to go ahead and murder their unborn babies.”

Utah is the only state in the West where cockfighting is a misdemeanor, said the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake.

He said cockfighting encourages people from Utah, as well as out of state visitors, to participate in gambling and illegal drug and alcohol abuse, and it attracts people from other states.

“This is a problem,” he said. “Utah is running the risk of becoming an underground gambling circuit for this horrendous activity.”

The bill would also make it a class B misdemeanor to attend a cockfight. It was passed by the Senate and now goes to the House.

I love watching the Legislature reduce government by expanding it, defending the Constitution by violating it and making voters freer by telling them to shut up.

The final days of the session are the best time to see those guys in full flower. Time is short, it’s a perfect chance to ram stuff through.

With that in mind:

• Utah lawmakers are all about the U.S. Constitution, so much so that they’re pushing through a bill that says only Utah, not the United States, will control guns in the state.

Everyone’s worried President Obama is going to confiscate their guns. Obama has clearly stated he will never do that, and there’s no way he legally could, but Utah stands ready to oppose him anyway.

The only problem is, as legislative attorneys point out, the bill to elevate state law over federal law is completely unconstitutional, a potentially expensive waste of time.

If the bill violates the U.S. Constitution, it also violates the Utah Constitution which clearly states that the U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land.

The proposal puts the Utah Sheriffs’ Association into a tight spot.

A couple weeks back, the sheriffs, spurred by Obama’s nonexistent call to seize guns, issued a bold statement, saying they considered Obama’s nonexistent call unconstitutional and, since the sheriffs had all sworn to uphold the U.S. Constitution, if Obama tried to enforce his nonexistent law in Utah there’d be trouble because those guys love the U.S. Constitution before life itself.

So, what will the sheriffs do if told to enforce Utah’s unconstitutional laws?

Maybe, like the Legislature, shoot themselves in the foot.

• Power to the people? Shut up!

Layton residents who beat city hall with referendums opposing West Layton Village last November are correct to feel that the Legislature is trying to shut them up.

SB 66 is sponsored by Sen. Stuart Reid, R-Ogden, who says he’s just running it for the Utah League of Cities and Towns. It is a confusing, eight-page mess of rules and regulations that left my head spinning and, according to the guys who ran the victorious Layton attempt last year, would shut down any future referendum attempt.

That’s the point. Government officials dislike being thwarted, especially by people they promised so ardently to listen to while running for election.

The bill is awaiting action by the House. Meanwhile, Utah’s lawmakers can continue denouncing the federal government for taking away Utahn’s individual freedoms.

• Say what?

Sen. Alan Christensen, R-North Ogden, weighed in on a bill Monday to make cock fighting a felony, saying he couldn’t vote to ban the alleged sport because cocks fight naturally, Utah hasn’t banned abortion yet, and how is that any different?

It was an odd statement, at best. Is he really saying abortion, a medical-political-ethical-religious dilemma that has bedeviled mankind for centuries, is the same as sadistic animal abuse?

He said no, he’s not, he’s just pointing out that the punishments are so different.

“Where one, abortion is deplorable but legal, and then cock fighting is also deplorable, but we are willing to put a person in prison on a felony sentence for this and this is for animals and not human babies,” he wrote to me.

Comparison noted but, senator, that’s the problem.

Like it or not, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled years ago that abortion is constitutional. If you disagree, change the court ruling.

Don’t take it out on chickens. Withholding support to ending animal cruelty to make a point about abortion just makes you look silly, and the Legislature already has quite enough of that.